I woke up a little early so that I could slip out of bed and make Austin a get-well-soon breakfast. I was in the middle of scrambling eggs when a figure came out from behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Good morning, Austin. I was trying to let you sleep in. I hope I didn't wake you. How are you feeling this morning? Breakfast will be ready shortly." He started kissing my shoulder and then worked his way up to my neck. He moved my hair to one side. "Seriously, Austin, I'm trying to cook." I let out a small laugh. He pulled me closer and put his arms around my waist. He started to get a little rough. Something felt wrong. I looked down at his hands. It wasn't Austin. "Alex?" his name came out as barely a whisper.

The figure stopped, "That's me baby girl. I do a great impression of my brother, don't I?" He was whispering in my ear. I tried not to move. The spatula I had been holding onto dropped to the pan as I did what I could to hold very still.

"What are you doing here?" I tried to hide my fear, but my voice was shaking.

"It's my house too. Did you really think that those people were going to keep me out forever? I have my ways." He picked me up from behind and sat me down on the counter top facing him. "Now why don't we have some fun of our own?" He gave me one of his crooked smiles.

"Let me go, now. I won't do anything for you." My voice cracked and Alex smiled.

He grabbed a knife from the countertop and grabbed my wrist with his other hand. "I heard that grabbing your wrist makes you very uncomfortable. Daddy issues?" He was playing with the knife. It seemed as if he knew the perfect way to make me feel very uncomfortable. I kept praying that someone would walk into the kitchen soon.

"How the hell did you know that?" I was gritting my teeth. I knew that if I yelled he would run me through with the knife.

"I told you I have my ways." He yanked me off the counter top and I almost fell to the floor. I picked myself up immediately so he wouldn't be able to pin me down again."That's better. Now kiss me." He positioned himself between the door and the counter so that it felt impossible to escape.

"No." My defiance scared even me.

"No?" he kissed me anyway; I just had to try not to flinch because he had moved the knife to the back of my neck. "That's better. Didn't my brother teach you how to behave?" I stayed silent. "Now take off the shirt."

"No." I said again. He slammed me into the wall.

"Don't you know anything? I'm a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off," His eyes went wide, but it wasn't with fear, no; it was anger, "At least that's what my brother says. Tick. Tick. Tick." With each 'tick' he tapped the dull side of the knife further up my arm until he reached my face. "Boom." He pressed the tip of the knife into my cheek, just hard enough to draw a drop of blood. "I bet now you'll listen to me. Now, take off the shirt." His eyes went crazy. He was closer to a monster than a person.

"No." I managed to squeak out.

"No? Oh, ho ho." He laughed, "Someone's been a naughty, naughty girl." He pulled the knife back and I felt myself closing my eyes once again.

"Let. Her. Go." Austin had come into the room at the perfect moment. I couldn't keep a small smile from coming onto my face. "I'm the one you have issues with. Let her go." His hand was still on his side and he was using the wall to hold himself up. Alex knew he was injured, if they ended up in a fight, Alex would win for sure.

"Never in a million years. You took our parents from me, now I get to take something from you." He spun me in front of him and held me like a human shield. Then he spun me right into the wall, holding my arms above my head. The pan of burned eggs went spilling onto the ground.

Austin tried to keep him talking, but he seemed set on killing me. His one mistake was looking away. Even though he had me pinned to a wall I still had the element of surprise. I hit his arm and the knife went flying from his grasp, "What the...?" he managed to say before I used to wall to my advantage to get the momentum to kick him in the stomach hard enough to knock him down. I ran over to Austin who embraced me in a tight hug. He tried to lead me away, but then I made the mistake of looking back.

My eyes were drawn to his chest. A spot of red was starting to pool around his once white shirt. "That bitch." He yelled. He looked down to his chest, "She killed me. That bitch. Killed me." He tried to say.

"Oh my gosh." I covered my mouth. I looked around for the knife. I didn't see it. When I hit the knife out of his hand it must have landed behind him, so when I pushed him down...

"Alex?" Austin had tears in his eyes, but was still trying to make me look away. I couldn't. He tensed and I knew that he was angry, but I couldn't tell who he was angry with.

Alex's eyes got wide, and then went back down to normal, "Oh my," He felt around his chest and looked at his hand, "Em, it's not your fault." He sputtered out a laugh, "can I just tell you one thing?"

I broke free from Austin's grasps, which was not hard since he was just as much in shock as me. I took one step toward Alex, "Are you...what's going on?"

"Well, I'm dying I guess, but I know that's not what you meant, no. I was just stuck in my head, is all. After everything that happened, with our parents, the dark stuff in me rose up and took over." He laughed, "I guess pain is the only way I can emerge. Well, at least now I know." His breaths were starting to shallow.

"I'm so sorry." Was all I could say. I know that I could have at least tried to slow the bleeding, but the knife was still under him and if what he was saying was true, he could somehow try and kill me again if his 'other side' came back out.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," I looked back at Austin. His eyes were set on his brother and he stood like a stone. His voice shook as he said, "It's not your fault. I know what I said, but it's not your fault."

"Austin," I started.

"No, Emily, he's right. You have nothing to apologize for. I did some horrible things to you and I'm the one who should be sorry," a tear slid down Alex's face, "I think I'm ready to go anyway. I just need to say one thing to you both," His gaze shifted from me to Austin. "The wound I was telling you about, Emily. The wound that I wanted to heal; that was me trying to say that I wanted things to be better between us, but I didn't know how. At the cabin," He took a deep breath, "It was me who attacked you, Austin. I came just to say what I just did, about the wound, but got upset when I found neither of you in bed. Evil me came out and I grabbed a knife and started breaking things." He coughed again. "I could go on, but it looks like I don't have much time left."

I knelt down next to him, "It's okay, you're going to be ok."

Alex's eyes grew wide again and I managed to jump back before he clawed the knife from his back and started waving it in my direction.

He just let out a sputtering laugh. Blood was now spilling from the corners of his mouth. "This was a turn. Of events that occurred. I didn't. See. Coming." He said in between shallow breaths. "Just remember. Austin. That this bitch. Your bitch. Did this. To. Me." The knife spilled from his hand, leaving a trail of blood as it skidded across the floor. His eyes returned to normal and he managed to whisper, "I'm sorry," before the life drained from his eyes and I knew he was dead. I couldn't bear to look up at Austin.

"I killed him. I just killed your brother." I slid down to the floor and broke down into tears. Austin somehow managed to pick me up and lead me back to his room. He removed the shirt I was wearing and gave me a fresh one. I had ruined his shirt when the blood from my cheek landed on it. "I did it." I cried.

He made me look him straight in the face. "You didn't kill my brother. He died with my parents. You just got rid of the monster that had taken over him and because of this everyone in the house is safer. You may have just saved me a life of suffering. You didn't kill a person. You just got rid of a monster." I knew his words were supposed to make me feel better but they didn't.

"You heard him!" I cried, "He was trying not to be! He couldn't help it." Austin looked me straight in the eye as I tried to take one more look at Alex.

Austin shook me gently, "You didn't do anything wrong!" His voice cracked as he pleaded with me, but when I kept crying, he just let me let it out and pulled me into a hug.

After a little while he let me stay alone in his room. I did what I always did when I was stressed; I cleaned. After a couple of hours I gathered the strength to go back into the kitchen. When I got there, there was no mess or body and everything had been cleaned and taken away. I guess I wasn't the only one who liked to clean. I went to the sink and the ruined pan scorched with the burned eggs was in there. The knife was missing, the body was missing and there was no blood to be found. Austin then walked into the room and saw me standing there. He didn't leave, but he didn't come any closer either. I gestured to where the body was.

"I called the cops and told them what happened." My eyes grew wide, "I just told them that he attacked you and when you got away he was killed in self defense." He leaned against the wall furthest from me.

"Why?" I asked, tears again threatening to spill from my eyes.

"When they asked where you were, I pointed to my room and said that she didn't want to be disturbed. They tried to go in anyway, but when they heard you sobbing they let you sit. They might be wanting to ask some questions later." He looked at the floor and tried not to make eye contact with me. He was messing up his hair again. He seemed to be doing that a lot more lately.

"Austin, your brother is dead because of me. Do you want to talk?" My eyes started to tear up, but I knew he was having it way worse than me at the moment.

He shook his head, "No, but I think I should take you back home. You might not want to be here right now."

"Austin?"

"You should grab your things. I'll meet you at the car." He waved me off and turned to go.

I didn't have any things to grab. I kept on his shirt. I was too tired to change. I trudged back down to the garage where he was waiting for me. I could tell he didn't want to talk so I just hopped into the passenger side. I didn't even have the strength to offer to drive.

The ride was pretty quiet until Austin said, "I don't blame you, you know."

"What?"

"I said that I don't blame you. For what you did. I would have done the same thing." His eyes were glazed over and he just stared at the road.

"Then why can't you look at me?"

"Because I just lost my brother because of my girlfriend!" He looked me in the eye. I could see the tears about to fall. He looked so much older, as if he had just aged twenty years in twenty minutes. I hated to see him this way. He looked away, "I have a lot going on right now. I know it's stupid, but I kept thinking that he would go back to his normal self if I just kept him contained. Now it's like losing him all over again. I just can't look at you right now."

"It's not your fault. He died because of me."

"But it wasn't your intention. It was no one's fault, but now we are both left feeling terrible."

"Yeah." I didn't really feel like talking either. He dropped me off at my house without another word and then he drove away. I then threw on my shoes and jumped into my own car. I had some thinking to do too.

...

I drove up to the farm where Peter greeted me. I acknowledged him and then went on hiking. When I came upon the clearing Austin was sitting there with his head in his hands. I could hear him sobbing. I wanted to comfort him, but I knew he came here to be alone so I turned around; avoiding looking at the cabin where his brother had tried to reach out to the both of us.

"It's okay, Emily." Austin let out a sad laugh, "I should have known you would come here too. Maybe I did and that's why I came. I don't really know anymore."

"I was just going to leave."

"No, it's okay, sit." He patted the spot on the rock next to him and I sat down. Neither of us spoke for a really long time. "I guess I should have seen this coming from a mile away." I was confused, but didn't say anything. "I was crazy to bring a girl into my house in the first place. I knew what he would try to do, but I didn't care. I thought that you were just a phase." He put his head in his hands and gave another sad laugh. That comment hurt, but I thought the same thing at first too. I figured that he was going to break up with me. I was ready. "But I was so wrong."

"What?"

"You are not just a phase. You are not even just another person in my life. I love you, Emily." I just stared down at the town. "I know we are in a rough spot right now, but I happen to love you. I know you are actually a really sweet girl. Just let me say one last thing before you say anything." He looked me straight in the eye, "I will never stop loving you. I know this may seem like a Romeo and Juliet thing right now, but we are not. I know the pain you are going through and I feel it too. I think that we were meant to be together. You just have to start sharing things with me. I need to know, even if you don't think I do, I do. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if we shared things. It's hard for me, but you have to manage too. It sucks, it all sucks and I can't stand to think of you like this, Em. I really do love you, but you will have to start sharing with me before I can fully forgive you or before things can continue."

I looked at him with tears in my eyes and he returned the look. I knew that I should tell him everything now. "My dad was an abusive alcoholic." I looked down at the rock and pretended as if I were just speaking to the rocks, "I was normally able to hide from it and just lock myself in my room, but one night I didn't make it up the stairs in time and he grabbed my wrist and threw me at them. The doctors all thought I would bleed to death or suffer from brain damage. That's why I froze whenever Alex or you touched my wrist. It brought back bad memories." I rubbed my wrist; I could still feel Alex's hand over it. "I know your life sucks right now because your brother just died, but my mother is dead too and I need you. I just killed a person and the only person that has forever been in my life is dead too and I know there isn't a thing that I could do to change things. I don't want to tell Sophie about this because she would never look at me the same again. I like you, Austin, a lot and I need you right now."

"I'm not going anywhere." He pulled me into another hug. I never wanted to leave. He wiped the tear from my face and lightly stroked the part of my cheek that Alex had dug the knife into. I snuggled into his hand. "I love you, Emily Cosden. Don't you ever go anywhere." He kissed me then stood up and walked away. I didn't know if he wanted me to stay or not, so I waited a couple minutes and just looked out at our sorry little town. I wanted to break down in tears, but I knew how hard this was on Austin and I felt that I had to be strong for him too. He should hate me right now, but instead he said that he loved me. I stood up and headed back. He was gone and I decided that I should go home too.